A bottle deposit refund system at the SAQ? Sign our petition!

Posted 14 Feb 2019

Did you know that Quebec and Manitoba are the only provinces that don’t have a deposit refund policy in place for wine bottles? According to an SOM survey conducted in 2017, 91% of Quebecers would support such a policy.

Last year, over 34,000 people signed a petition calling on the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) to collect a deposit on glass bottles. The petition was then submitted to the National Assembly by the following unions: Métallos, Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) and Canadian Union of Public Employees – Quebec (CUPE-Quebec).

Since then, a new provincial government was elected, the SAQ Consigne citizen movement was created to encourage SAQ clients to return their empty bottles, and the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) will soon demand that Quebec expand its deposit refund system for glass.

The SAQ is willing to accept bottle returns if the government agrees to introduce a deposit system.

This week, Équiterre and its partners* launched a new petition to ramp up the pressure to make that happen. We’re closing in on our goal! Just a few weeks ago, Quebec's new Environment Minister, Benoît Charrette, stated that he was open to the idea of a deposit refund system.

This is our chance! Let's tell the government that we want a deposit refund system for glass bottles at the SAQ without delay.